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Oakland Raiders Return Home For Clash With Denver Broncos

Here is this week's game preview, presented by 95.7 The Game.

The Oakland Raiders will return home this weekend for a matchup with the Denver Broncos at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Sunday, November 26 at 1:25 p.m. PT. Sunday's game will mark the first true home game the team has played in more than a month, with the last one coming on Oct. 19 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the divisional rivals, as they played each other in Denver back on Oct. 1. Over the final six games of the regular season, the Raiders will play three games against AFC West opponents, traveling to Kansas City and Los Angeles to play the Chiefs and Chargers, respectively.

For the second straight year, the Raiders hosted a game in Mexico City last week, this time against the New England Patriots. New England won the international contest by a final of 33-8. QB Derek Carr threw for 237 yards on 28-of-49 passing with one touchdown and one interception in the loss. WR Amari Cooper scored the team's touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Carr. WR Michael Crabtree led the team with six receptions for 51 yards. RB Marshawn Lynch led the team with 67 rushing yards on 11 carries for a 6.1 average. DE Khalil Mack posted one sack on the day, dropping QB Tom Brady for an 8-yard loss. CB TJ Carrie, LB Cory James and S Karl Joseph led the way for the Raiders on defense, each totaling seven tackles.

Next week, the Raiders will host their second straight game and begin a stretch of three out of four games against NFC East opponents. They will host the New York Giants on December 3 before a divisional trip to Kansas City. The Silver and Black will then play back-to-back games against the NFC East, hosting the Dallas Cowboys before a trip to Philadelphia on Christmas night to play the Eagles. The Broncos will continue their road swing next week with a trip to Miami to play the Dolphins.

MACK vs. DENVER

DE Khalil Mack will take the field again this weekend against the Broncos looking to improve on his impressive numbers against them. Mack has played in seven career games against Denver, recording 31 tackles, nine sacks, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. His nine sacks against the Broncos are the most he has against any single opponent. In addition to his five sack game in 2015, Mack has two other multi-sack games against the Broncos, including a two-sack performance earlier this year in Denver.

Overview: : Under the direction of first-year Head Coach Vance Joseph, the Broncos sit in fourth place in the division with a 3-7 record. Denver will head into its Week 12 matchup against the Raiders coming off a 17-20 loss to Cincinnati. Denver took the first game in the series against Oakland, defeating the Raiders 16- 10 on the road in Week 4.

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Offense: The Broncos’ offense has a new leader in Week 12 as they promoted former Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator on Monday. Sixth-year QB Brock Osweiler has completed 62-of-117 passing for 701 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions for a passer rating of 65.5 in his three starts since taking over for QB Trevor Siemian. WRs Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders have been the top targets this season as they’ve recorded 633 yards on 53 catches and 448 on 34 receptions, respectively. Additionally, Thomas leads the team with three receiving touchdowns. Returning from a season-ending injury in 2016, RB C.J. Anderson is pacing the running game with 573 yards on 139 carries and two touchdowns, while also totaling 15 receptions for 111 yards and one receiving touchdown.

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Defense: In his first season as defensive coordinator, Joe Woods’ unit enters Week 12 ranked third in total defense, allowing just 283.2 yards per game. The team has recorded 22 sacks this season, led by seventh-year All-Pro OLB Von Miller, whose eight sacks rank tied for eighth in the NFL. CB Aqib Talib has recorded one of the Broncos’ five interceptions, which he returned for 103 yards for a touchdown. Talib’s return marks the longest in the NFL this season.

NOTABLE CONNECTIONS

Pro Connections

• Raiders Head Coach Jack Del Rio coached for the Denver Broncos as the defensive coordinator for three seasons from 2012-2014. Del Rio also served as the interim head coach for Weeks 10-13 of the 2013 season in Denver, compiling a 3-1 record.

• Broncos offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave served as the Raiders’ offensive coordinator from 2015-16, helping the unit rank sixth in total offense last season. Musgrave also began his coaching career with the Raiders, serving as the team’s quarterbacks coach in 1997.

• Broncos defensive backs coach Marcus Robertson spent three seasons with the Raiders from 2014-16, assisting in the secondary in his first year before being promoted to defensive backs coach in 2015-16.

• Broncos assistant defensive backs coach Johnnie Lynn served as the defensive backs coach for the Raiders from 2012-13.

• Broncos outside linebackers coach Fred Pagac began his NFL coaching career as the Raiders linebackers coach for three seasons from 2001-2003, where he helped lead Oakland to Super Bowl XXXVII.

• Broncos DE Shelby Harris played in eight games for the Raiders (2014-15), after originally being selected by the team in the seventh round (235th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft.

• Broncos ILB Todd Davis played at Sacramento State for four seasons (2010-13), and left as the school’s second leading tackler alltime, registering 351 stops during his time there.

• Patriots OL Cameron Fleming was drafted by the team in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Stanford. Fleming started all 39 games appeared in for the Cardinals.

Hometown Connections

• Raiders assistant wide receivers coach Nick Holz was a wide receiver at Colorado from 2003-2006, also serving as the team’s holder.

• Broncos RB C.J. Anderson is from Vallejo, Calif, where he attended Bethel High School. At Bethel High, Anderson rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and led his team to four consecutive playoff appearances. He then went on to play a Laney College in Oakland before transferring to Cal, where he appeared in all 25 games, starting two of them, and rushed for 1,135 yards and 12 touchdowns on 198 career carries.

• Broncos TE Virgil Green is from Tulare, Calif., where he attended Tulare Union High School before going to the University of Nevada.

• Broncos RB Devontae Booker is a native of Sacramento, Calif., where he attended Grant Union High School and helped his team to the CIF State Open Division state title as a junior.

• Raiders S Shalom Luani and Broncos NT Domata Peko are both natives of American Samoa. Luani grew up in Masausi where he attended Faga’itua High School and Peko is from Pago Pago where he played at Samoana High School.